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Round the Vines

Date: 15 March 2015

Distance: 21.1km

Time: 2:13:43

Us two at the start in the town square.
Fancy dress was the order of the day.
Me and some ape hanging around in the gutter shortly before the start. 🙂
Running through vineyards and on quiet small town roads is just awesome.
One of the musicians. He played some good ol’ rockers to help keep our pace up.
Couldn’t believe the weather. Another perfect day in the Wairarapa.
The private farms and vineyards are normally closed to the public.
Having a laugh with fellow participants who we met at the campsite the night before.
Just follow the grapes.
Festive drink stations with at least wine, water, watermelon and grapes.
More entertainment en route.
Even the stretches on the larger roads were virtually traffic-free.
The themed drink stations were so much fun. The nurses and doctors at this water point (Shortland Street) was giving sustenance by squirting wine with a syringe down the suffering “patients” throat. 😀
More music to add to the festivities.
These youngsters waiting for the first few speedsters in the 10km event to come through before taking off on the last 3 or so kilometres.
Running around the vineyards next to shelter belts.
Gerry on another loop around the vines.
The barn band providing lots of entertainment on the route.
Gerry not holding back on the tastings.
But with such a spread, who can resist.
A band on the school grounds about 1.5km before the finish.
“Welcome home darling, the roast is in the oven. Have a glass of wine.” The Desperate Housewives drinks station was my favourite.
The largest number of participants is surely in the 10km walk?
Nice to see there’s still some hippies around!
Lifesavers from “Baywatch”.
And four wine barrels.
Band at the square keeping everybody entertained throughout the morning.
Sausage sizzle and a glass of wine to finish off a great event.
Prize-giving where it was mentioned that the event drew some 1500 participants.

This event is an absolute MUST on every runner, walker, crawler or otherwise breathing person’s calendar. It is the biggest jollification around with everybody dressing up and getting into the spirit of things, from the marshals to the drink stations, ushers and organisers. Words cannot describe the fun that is the Round the Vines. Continue reading →

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Mountain to Surf – New Plymouth

Date: 7 March 2015

Distance: 42.2

Time: 4:19.50

A perfect early morning start in the foothills of Mt Taranaki.
Start-selfie. with our regular pre-marathon mix of excitement and apprehension.
The first few downhill kilometres combined with the great weather, makes it very tempting to go out too fast.
Country roads meandering through dairy farms.
Gerry enjoying an easy run.
Fly fly away.
Friendly volunteer helpers at the well stocked aid stations.
Reaching SH3 – the first stretch on busy roads.
Approaching the halfway mark at Inglewood.
A little out-and-back section in town to make up the distance.
Lots of supporters makes this a jolly changeover.
After a good shower, the rain stopped and our clothes had time to dry out.
Back onto SH3 with congested traffic.
With one kilometre to go, we got another soaking. Coupled with the wind, I was near-hypothermic at the finish.
Happy, but shivering, at the finish.

Mountain? There was a mountain? As is the case more often than not, Mt Taranaki was tucked in under a thick blanket of cloud all weekend. So much so, that it was hard to figure out where exactly the mountain is supposed to be on our drive to New Plymouth. If I hadn’t been there and seen Mt Taranaki at numerous previous occasions, I would never have thought there’s a beautiful 2518m high volcanic cone, dusted at the top with snow.

Since TUM we’ve cut back on our weekly kilometres quite a bit. Needless to say, the week after the 100km event saw only a couple of walks with one or so short attempt at a “run”. As we didn’t burn it both ends at the Tarawera, our recovery was quite fast. Not that I’m fully recovered one month after the Tarawera, but I’m not injured and okey to do a little bit of training/maintenance for our next ultra – the Two Oceans 56km in South Africa. Apart from sensitive feet on Gerry’s part and a general lack of energy and lethargy on my side, we are nearly back on track one month after the Tarawera. The Mountain to Surf was placed perfectly in the middle of our post-Tarawera build-up towards the Two Oceans. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Striders Super Sevens 2015

 

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For the front runners, the Super Sevens course starts with a sprint over the sports field to get to the narrow path through the Esplanade before it gets congested.

The Striders are clearly doing something right when it comes to their start-of-the-year Super Sevens Series. Year after year I am amazed at the number of people turning up each Tuesday night to run or walk the 7km (or 3km) course along the Manawatu River, through the streets of Hokowhitu and back through the Esplanade. It’s a very scenic little course – probably one of the reasons the series is so popular. The Super Sevens really is a huge celebration of summer, good times and general physical wellbeing here in Palmerston North. Continue reading →

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First time centurion – the Tarawera Ultra 100km

Date: 7 February 2015
Distance: 100km
Time: 17:25.54

All photos by us, except the ones containing the TUM logo which are courtesy of Photos4sale and TUM. 

Happy to reach the finish. But leading up to this was a long journey …
Gerry at Te Puia, waiting for the opening ceremony.
Entering the Te Aronui a Rua Marae.
Nervous smiles before the big day ahead.
Wandering around Te Puia thermal world. The Pohutu Geyser putting up a show worthy of an international audience.
Malcalm Law, keynote speaker ahead of his High-5-O challenge. Very inspirational. (BTW, you can still text to contribute or make a donation.)
Q&A session with elite athletes from around the world. Seated LtoR: Pau Bartolo Roca, Dylan Bowman (2015 male winner), Jo Johansen, Nuria Picas-Albets, Mike Wardian, Robbie Britton and Ruby Muir (2015 female winner).
Nice touch – a stand at the expo where supporters can create signage to encourage their runners.
Daunting to see these registration tables and you know you have to go to the one with the longest distance.
All the entrants’ names were printed on a huge banner that featured outside the hotel.
I don’t think what lay ahead had sunk in at this stage yet.
Only a couple more minutes before the start. Can you feel the tension?
And away we go.
Only about 99.95km to go.
A few steps early on in the Redwood Forest on well maintained trails.
Beautiful scenery. Living here we sometimes lose sight of the lovely natural surroundings.
Long train of runners snaking through the forest.
Gerry clearly in high spirits.
Wonderful to run into a familiar face, June also from the Manawatu Striders.
A fantastic spread at the aid stations, fit for a king.
Running around Blue Lake. Little did we know when we first walked this trail in 2008 during a visit to NZ that we’d one day run this as part of a 100km ultra!
Happy days on the shores of Blue Lake.
“I can’t do this alone, oh oh oh oh o-ho…”
The variety of refreshments on offer made it difficult to choose, resulting in us perhaps spending a bit too much time at the early aid stations.
Sharing a laugh with the aid station crew.
No lack of fun and entertainment en route!
Aid station activities – eating, sorting out drop bags, filling water containers, checking gear.
Much of the day was run in the shaded forest, ensuring mild temperatures perfect for running.
Yet at the same time us Africans enjoyed the stretches in the sun, offering wider views of the rolling landscape.
Beautiful tree ferns lining the track.
Time for an aid station selfie! My cheeks bulging from sampling the spread on offer.
Slight change of scenery on the shores of Lake Okataina.
The heavy winds of the days leading up to the race left some challenging obstacles on the route.
More obstacles to slide over…
…or slip under.
Past the Tarawera Falls aid station (and 60km finish) the environment changed, with a greater percentage of the route run (or walked!) on forestry roads.
Made it! Having passed the final cut-off at the 70km Titoki aid station, we knew we just had to hang in there for another 30km to finish.
Not too impressed with the “arse-bitingly steep” hills on the loop of despair around the 80km mark.
Close to sunset, with just over 15km to go.
Over the final 5+ kms, many sections of the route were lit up with colourful fairy lights, turning our late night run into a forest fairytale. This picture doesn’t do it justice at all, but it was a really special experience.
Finally reaching the finish after almost 17.5 hours. Tired. but relieved and elated.
Such a special feeling, being able to experience these events together. I don’t know how lonely those hours in the dark must have been to solo runners.
A hug from organiser Tim Day, making each finisher feel special for having made it to the finish.
Receiving our lovely wood-cut Tarawera medals.
A special moment at the end of a very long day.
“Ju-ust the two of us, we can make it if we try…”

Turns out writing about a 100km event is just as hard as doing it. What can you say that hasn’t already been said before? Instead of repeating what you can read about the race on the comprehensive official website, I thought perhaps I should just give a broad overview of my experience of the race weekend.

We drove through to Rotorua (the venue for the race) on the Thursday, two days prior to race day, figuring it might be a good idea before taking on our first 100km run to arrive well in time and settle down before the event. The official opening was quite early on the Friday morning, so even more reason to arrive the day before. After the official race welcome (Powhiri) at Te Aronui a Rua Marae, Te Puia, things moved to the Holiday Inn where registration, the expo, talks, presentations and all the rest took place. It was a jolly occasion, with lots of athletes and their support crews pitching up for the pre-race activities. There was even a rogaine on the Thursday that drew quite a number of participants.

One of the highlights of the proceedings during Friday morning was the keynote talk by Malcolm Law. He really is an extraordinary person, being the first to do the seven Great Walks in NZ in seven days to raise money for leukaemia and blood cancer. This time around he is pushing his limits even further by attempting to scale 50 peaks, and in the process run a total of 50 marathons, in 50 consecutive days, of which the Tarawera Ultra marked the start. Through his extraordinary High-5-O Challenge Malcolm aims to raise $400 000 for Mental Health (having lost a brother-in-law to suicide). One of the things he said that stuck with me, was that if you ever think of doing something, just do it. And that is so true. All the things that I’ve ever thought of doing, but haven’t yet, still taunts me every day (like that PhD!). Another excellent point he made was that if something cannot be scientifically proven to be impossible, then it must be possible. Definitely something to keep in mind next time you feel something is “impossible”. Continue reading →

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North Range Road training run

All smiles in the early morning.
After starting on a good gravel road, the route soon gives way to a jeep track.
Between about 4 and 10kms, the route is quite rough – definitely 4×4 terrain.
Along the route, there are many service roads turn-offs which could potentially be confusing, but these are all locked with huge “No entry” signs, so no risks of missing the correct route.
It’s not all windmills – there are some trees too.
For the most part, North Range Road is pleasantly undulating.
Some small puddles can be jumped…
…while bigger ones have to be negotiated more carefully.
The result of stepping into a muddy section on the side of one of the larger water puddles.
A great morning for a run.
The majestic wind turbines form a scenic backdrop for the run.
Still very happy with my new Salomon hydration pack – it fits like a dream.
The windfarm features a range of different turbine types.
We only met two other people en route – this mountain-biker coming past from behind, and later a hiker passing us in the opposite direction.
What a view!
For the most part, the route consists of very well-maintained gravel roads.
The route winds its way through the hills and valleys of the Tararuas.
Flying down one of the downhills of Hall Block Road.
When you get to the end of the track at Gorge Road, it’s just a small distance to the Bridge Cafe.
Very stoked with our new training route – what a great morning out!

One of the problems when training for ultra-long events, is that you need to spend a lot of time on the road. Which means, unless you are inordinately blessed with a limitless supply of training routes and trails close to where you live, you are bound to end up traversing the same routes over and over. Using events as training runs is a great way to break the monotony, mix things up and keep your running exciting, but given the cost of many races in NZ, it also is one of the best ways to blow your budget faster than you can say “marathon”, as we dearly discovered during these past few months. Continue reading →